The Magnate's Holiday Proposal

by Rebecca Winters

  She looked down at Dino. “Edda told me you wanted to spend the day with me. Guess what? She gave me permission to leave.”

  “Evviva! Do you know where we should go?”

  “Since I’ve lived here all my life, I have a lot of ideas. One of my favorite places is the insect museum in Brusegana.”

  “Insect—” His reaction was comical.

  “That’s right. When I was in school, we took a field trip there. I thought it would be stupid until we arrived on the bus. Was I ever wrong! It’s a few kilometers from the center of the city.”

  “Does it have real insects in it?”

  “Thousands! Of course, most of them are dead, thank goodness.” His father laughed. “It’s an amazing museum, Dino. Maybe we could eat lunch at DaPretta’s first. It’s only a few blocks away. They do fast food and make the most delicious bacon and potato panzerottos.

  “Afterward we’ll drive to Brusegana and spend part of the day there. If you want, we can watch a movie about insects while we’re at the museum and buy something in the book shop to add to your collection of books in your family room. I never saw so many. You’ll love visiting there!”

  His face lit up with excitement. “Papà? Have you been there?”

  He shook his dark head. “It’ll be a new experience for me, too.” His gaze focused on her again, and she felt an instant awareness of him that went deep beneath the surface. “Are you ready to leave?” She nodded. “Then let’s go.”

  Gabi followed them out to the parking area, where he headed for a fabulous dark red Lancia luxury passenger car. While Dino climbed in the backseat and strapped himself in, his father helped Gabi in the front passenger seat. She felt his gaze on her legs as she swung them inside.

  His interest was that of any normal male, but she hadn’t been with a man in two years. If she was going to be this affected by his every look and touch, maybe she’d made a mistake in not accepting dates from guys since her divorce. But Luca Berettini wasn’t just any man.

  She’d heard of the expression coup de foudre, love at first sight. Gabi had never believed in such a thing, but if it existed she feared it had happened to her.

  When they stopped to eat and find a table, she’d noticed every female in sight, young or old, staring at Dino’s striking father and eyeing her with envy for being in his company. She needed to get herself in hand and concentrate on his son. Before long they were served and Dino seemed to like his food.

  In a few minutes one of the male servers who was probably Gabi’s age left the counter to walk over to them. He stood by Luca. “Excuse me for interrupting, but I know you’re Luca Berettini. I saw you win the gold medal in the downhill when I was sixteen. I can’t believe you just walked in here. Would you let me take a picture with my phone? My friends won’t believe it.”

  Gabi saw a clouded expression enter Luca’s eyes. “I’d rather you didn’t.”

  The guy nodded. “Excuse me, then. But I have to tell you that seeing you has made my day.”

  When the man walked off, Gabi looked at Luca through shuttered eyes. “I imagine that must happen to you often.”

  “More than I’d like. If I were alone, it would be different, but not when I’m with my son.”

  “I would feel the same way,” she said in a quiet voice. Every mention of skiing had to be a reminder of Dino’s suffering and what his life had once been like before the avalanche. “Luckily he’s enjoying his food and didn’t seem to pick up on anything.”

  He darted a glance at Dino. “These panzerottos are a definite hit and have provided the needed distraction.”

  “I’ve loved them forever. What are your favorite dishes?” Gabi found herself wanting to know everything about him.

  His eyes played over her with a definite gleam. “Pizza patate.”

  “Potatoes on pizza. I’ve never tried it.”

  “It’s the specialty of a place near my work.”

  She smiled at him. “You mean you don’t have your secretary bring in fabulous meals for you every day?”

  “Afraid not. I can hardly wait to get out of there and go home to eat. But sometimes I have to stay longer, and a pizza patate helps get me through the rest of the long cruel hours.”

  “I see.” Gabi drank the last of her coffee. “Are you telling me you don’t like being the CEO of one of the most famous companies in Italy?”

  “Would it shock you if I told you it’s the last place I want to be?”

  Gabi averted her eyes. “Actually it wouldn’t, not when you’ve had something so serious on your mind for the last two years.”

  He shook his dark head. “That’s not the only reason. Before I was forced to take over for my father, I’d been building my own skis and boots manufacturing business. I still run it on the side and have little interest in my family’s company. I’m afraid I never will. One day soon when my father is able to take over again, I’ll walk away and not look back.”

  That sounded final. Gabi wiped her mouth with a napkin. She couldn’t help but wonder about the history behind it and how his father felt about that, but it was none of her business.

  Luca put some bills on the table. “That was delicious.”

  “I want to come here again,” Dino replied.

  “Maybe we will. Shall we drive to Brusegana now?”

  Dino got up from the table. Luca helped Gabi and they left for his car. It had been a long time since she’d been anywhere with a man, and never with one as appealing as Dino’s striking father.

  When she’d come to work this morning, she couldn’t have imagined his driving to the foundation with his son in order to thank her and give Dino a chance to apologize, let alone spend the day with her. The whole situation had caught her completely off guard.

  After a short drive, they pulled in the parking lot of the museum. Luca had a devastating smile. Her pulse raced when he used it on her. “This ought to be interesting.”

  “I hope so,” she said in a slightly breathless voice.

  From the moment they walked inside the doors, the three of them were mesmerized by the hundreds of insect displays. For the next hour Dino ran from one to another, marveling over the varieties and colors.

  “Gabi—look at this big black one with the orange stripes! Ew. I’d hate to meet that in the forest.”

  “It’s probably pretty harmless.”

  “How about the sculpture of this giant cicada standing upright?” his father called out. They hurried over to look at it. “He could be a soldier.”

  The large statues of insects were something new since the last time she’d been here. “I’m thankful they don’t grow that huge in real life.”

  “Except in the movies,” Luca murmured.

  She chuckled. “I’m afraid I paid a lot of money to watch them in my youth.”

  “So has the whole world.” Their eyes met in mutual amusement.

  “You mean you liked them, too?”

  The corner of his compelling mouth curved upward. “They were the best films to take a girl to.”

  His surprising sense of humor got to her. What girl wouldn’t have wanted to go anywhere with him, even a scary show? Every time she looked at him now, her body quivered in reaction.

  Dino hurried along to inspect the butterflies. There were hundreds of them.

  “I like the black one with the green spokes from Africa. It’s my favorite.”

  After Gabi had taken a picture with her phone, his father said, “Let’s go in the theater now. They’ll be starting a movie in a few minutes.”

  Somehow she ended up sitting next to Luca at the very back of the auditorium with his son on his other side. Judging by the oohs and aahs coming from the audience, the film engrossed everyone watching, but no one more so than Dino.

  “First the food was a hug
e hit, now the museum,” Luca whispered. She felt his warm breath against her cheek. More delicious sensations traveled through her body.

  Though she agreed with his assessment, right now she couldn’t concentrate on anything except being next to this exciting man. “I thought he’d like it.”

  “You’ve made his day. Are you sure you weren’t a schoolteacher instead of an employee working at a boring bank job in another life?”

  Gabi laughed gently. “I’m going to have to be careful around Dino. He doesn’t miss a trick.”

  “I figure I’ve heard about your whole life story already. At least the parts you chose to share with him. I guess you know you’ve made a big impression on him.”

  She smiled. “He’s a very sweet boy. You’re so lucky to have him.”

  “He’s my life.” The tone in his voice spoke volumes about the love he had for his son.

  “Of course he is.” But before she could say more, the lights went on because the show was over and Dino expressed a desire to visit the bookstore.

  He wanted the big two-feet-by-two-feet colored picture book on insects. Who wouldn’t? But Luca walked him around to look at other books just to make certain it was the best one so he wouldn’t change his mind. Gabi admired his patience and thoughtful concern.

  After they went out to the car, he climbed in back and started poring through the book that would give him hours of pleasure.

  She glanced at his father. “See that gelateria on the corner? Let’s stop and get one, shall we? I’d like to pay for it.”

  “You’re reading my mind, but it will be my treat. For you to have come up with an outing like this means more to me than you know.” Once again his voice penetrated to her insides. So did his words that touched her on a deeper level. He parked outside the shop. “Do you have a preference?”

  “Any fruit gelato with panna.” She loved whipping cream.

  “I like fondente with panna, Papà.”

  Gabi grinned and looked over her shoulder at him. “You like chocolate, eh?”

  “Si.” He was still concentrating on the pictures.

  She eyed his father, who smiled at her before he said, “I’ll be right back.”

  “I wish we didn’t have to go home,” Dino admitted after Luca left the car. “I wish—” he began, then stopped.

  “You wish what, piccolo?”

  “That you could be with me when I have my operation.”

  With those heartfelt words, Gabi had trouble not falling apart. “It’s funny about wishes. Sometimes they come true. When I was young, I had a group of friends and we wished on a star for a friend who was very sick. And guess what? She got well. You never know.”

  “How do you do that?”

  “At night you look up in the sky, find a star and make a wish.”

  “I’m going to do that tonight.”

  Just then Luca returned and handed her a peach concoction.

  Their fingers touched, igniting her senses. Could he tell how the contact affected her? What was wrong with her? “Thank you.”

  “Prego.”

  It seemed he was a chocolate lover like his son. Soon they were all enjoying their treat. She eyed his father. “The panna on yours looks delicious.”

  “Papà loves zabaglione.”

  Gabi didn’t realize Dino had been listening, and it took her by surprise.

  His father darted her a lighthearted glance. “Marsala wine–flavored panna is a weakness of mine. You’ll have to try it another time.”

  Maybe when she went out for lunch with Luisa. But she couldn’t imagine there’d be another time with Luca Berettini or his son. She pondered that thought all the way back to the parking lot behind the foundation building.

  Today’s outing had proved that it wouldn’t be wise to get any more involved with Dino’s father. She’d enjoyed being with him too much. After Santos, she was afraid to get too close to another man again and be hurt. Luca was already an unforgettable man, bigger than life. Something told her that if she were to fall in love with a man like him, she’d never get over it. The possibility of that happening shook her.

  Again something had to be wrong with her to even be thinking this way when the Berettini family was facing a huge ordeal in a few weeks. Luca’s fear for his son was all that mattered to him.

  Gabi had done her part and knew for a fact Luca would never have come to Padova if it hadn’t been for her visit on behalf of the foundation. How foolish of her to believe Luca could be romantically interested in her that way. The sooner she got out of the car, the better.

  Edda had asked Gabi to follow through on the foundation’s commitment to Dino. She’d done everything possible she could. Now she needed to walk away before the attraction to his father and his boy became so great, she couldn’t.

  After he turned off the engine, she undid her seat belt and looked around at Dino, who had a hold on her emotions. “I’m so glad you came to my work today. I had the best time with you.”

  “Me, too,” he said, but he didn’t look up and continued to turn the pages of the book.

  “You’re the smartest boy I know, and I bet you’ll finish your building blocks game by the end of the week.”

  No response.

  “I’ll keep you in my prayers. I want you to know you’ll always have a friend at the Start with a Wish foundation. Now I have to go in.”

  She grabbed her purse. In that fleeting moment her gaze met his father’s. For the first time all day they were filled with undeniable pain, all of it because of his son. She knew her pain for Dino was reflected in hers, too.

  Today had been a lovely moment out of time, but it was over. She opened the door and hurried to the building entrance, but she’d left her heart behind with that child and...heaven forbid, Luca Berettini.

  * * *

  The day had been heavenly for Dino, but unsettling for Luca, who’d been far too aware of Gabi while they’d walked around the museum...connecting. With Catarina’s death he’d buried his heart, or so he’d thought. Yet everything about Gabi had brought out feelings he didn’t want to experience again. To care for a woman after all this time, to fall in love and then lose her would be too terrible to contemplate. Luca couldn’t deal with that.

  But as he’d watched Gabi disappear into the building after they’d dropped her off, he’d felt a strange sense of loss that had nothing to do with his son’s pain. Luca had been out to dinner with several women since his wife’s death, trying to get back to some kind of normal existence. But the nightmare that had taken Catarina’s life had left him empty.

  Until today...

  While he tried to put Gabi out of his mind, the journey back to his villa in Maniago turned out to be the drive from hell. Pure silence accompanied him all the way home. Dino had kept his promise to his father not to cry or protest when they had to say goodbye to her. He’d been a model of obedience. No pleading. No tantrums. That had been the bargain they’d made before they’d ever left the villa.

  She lived in another city and had an important job to do. She’d brought his son a gift from the foundation and had shown him unparalleled kindness in answer to his letter, but that was all Dino could expect. That’s what he’d told him.

  Now his son wasn’t talking to him, causing Luca to relive the events of the day in his mind. To his astonishment, he’d found himself enjoying the outing with the beautiful blonde Signora Parisi more than he would have imagined. Her engaging personality had a seductive power that had ensnared his son from the moment he’d first met her. Luca had seen him reach for Gabi’s hand several times throughout the day.

  But it was in the movie at the museum he’d felt a pull on his emotions that had shocked him. It had been a long time since he’d shared one of those moments that had made him wish he’d known a woman like Gabi in his tee
ns. She had a unique sense of fun, yet showed amazing compassion for his son’s fears.

  Edda Romano knew what she was doing when she’d hired Gabi to work for her. Gabi had a vivacious quality. When she walked in a room, a light went on, something he hadn’t thought could possibly be ignited inside his soul again. Now it seemed Luca himself hadn’t escaped the special magic that was as natural to her as breathing.

  When they arrived at the villa, Dino carried his book into the family room and put it on the table, ignoring Luca. Ines came in to announce dinner, but his son wanted to show her the book first.

  “What amazing pictures! Where did you get it?”

  With that question, all the information you could ever want came pouring out of Dino. “Gabi took us to the insect museum in Padova.”

  “I didn’t know there was one.”

  “Gabi went to it when she was in school. We even saw insects and blue butterflies from Africa!” It had been another connection to Catarina, who’d promised that one day the three of them would go on safari. Dino talked all the way through their meal. Then it was time for his bath and bed.

  Tonight Luca took over the duties. But after Dino had said his prayers, he darted over to the window and looked out at the night sky.

  “What are you doing, figlio?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Then come get in bed.”

  Dino ran back and climbed under the covers. He looked up at Luca. “Thanks for taking me to see Gabi. I had the best time of my whole life.”

  More than everything else in his whole life?

  Luca swallowed hard. “I enjoyed it, too.”

  “I wish she lived in Maniago so I could see her every day,” he said with tears in his voice. “When I’m with her, I have so much fun and... I’m not as afraid to have the operation. But I know she can’t come every day.” He half moaned the words.

  Oh, Dino. Luca’s heart lurched. His son’s attachment for Gabi went beyond the superficial. Dino was crazy about her.

  “Buona notte, Papà.” The last was smothered as Dino turned away and buried his face in the pillow.